Iceland Women

In the United States, for the first time, the wives of both major-party presidential candidates are women with careers and accomplishments of their own, each a grade-grinding graduate of an Ivy League law school. With 58.9% of women in the work force, Americans might be expected to applaud the end of the political-helpmate era. But no. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton continues to be an object of suspicion and even loathing for some members of the press and public.

In the United States, for the first time, the wives of both major-party presidential candidates are women with careers and accomplishments of their own, each a grade-grinding graduate of an Ivy League law school. With 58.9% of women in the work force, Americans might be expected to applaud the end of the political-helpmate era. But no. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton continues to be an object of suspicion and even loathing for some members of the press and public.

Prime Minister Steingrimur Hermannsson on Sunday conceded defeat in Iceland's general election, leaving left-wing feminists likely to hold the balance of power in negotiations to form a new government. The center-right coalition of Hermannsson's Progressive Party and the conservative Independence Party emerged with 31 seats in the 63-seat Althing, Iceland's Parliament. The two parties held a total of 38 seats in the old, 60-seat Parliament.

Prime Minister Steingrimur Hermannsson on Sunday conceded defeat in Iceland's general election, leaving left-wing feminists likely to hold the balance of power in negotiations to form a new government. The center-right coalition of Hermannsson's Progressive Party and the conservative Independence Party emerged with 31 seats in the 63-seat Althing, Iceland's Parliament. The two parties held a total of 38 seats in the old, 60-seat Parliament.

Iceland's female president joined tens of thousands of female employees and housewives who walked off the job today in a mass 24-hour protest against male privilege on this island skirting the Arctic Circle. Groups of disconsolate men crowded into hotels in the early morning after their wives refused to cook breakfast for them and most of Iceland's telephone switchboards were left unstaffed.

Dinner was deliberately light fare--acorn squash soup and lamb, with dessert of green-apple sorbet and berries. Guests described the evening as cozy and autographed each other's calligraphic menus as souvenirs. But conversation at the opening session of this powerful new group with members from four continents centered on weighty world problems, from human rights to environmental dangers.

And now, from the feminists of Iceland, who have historically startled the world with the vigor of their periodic uprisings, comes the Women's Alliance, their most ambitious undertaking yet. The Alliance is a political party for women only. Its officially stated purpose is to see that women win their "fair share" of power in government, and, in its more moderate moments, it doesn't say that men are inferior to women, only "otherwise."

Iceland's female president joined tens of thousands of female employees and housewives who walked off the job today in a mass 24-hour protest against male privilege on this island skirting the Arctic Circle. Groups of disconsolate men crowded into hotels in the early morning after their wives refused to cook breakfast for them and most of Iceland's telephone switchboards were left unstaffed.